Blog

Content, SEO and social media news: weekly round-up

WordPress 3.1 launched for iOS

Popular blogging platform WordPress have launched one of their biggest updates ever for their iOS app. Version 3.1 has fixed bugs, improved features, and streamlined the reader interface, allowing users to keep up with blogs that they’re subscribed to, find their friends blogs, and search by interest – all in one place. There’s also a new icon list, better preview options and a more detailed dashboard. However, despite the updates, WordPress aren’t resting on their laurels. In a recent blog post, they said that “development is continuing at a very rapid pace”, and confirmed that they are “marching towards the next big release of the app”, suggesting that users can expect even bigger and better changes over the coming months.

E-commerce bolsters John Lewis sales

In the first half of this year, retail giant John Lewis generated an enormous 40% increase in the number of sales made online. Growth across their overall sales stood at just under 13%, demonstrating the significance of the rise in e-commerce purchases. The statistics highlight the increasing importance of the quality of e-commerce offerings, as more and more consumers take to the internet to make their purchases.

40% of big brands are using Instagram

A new study, conducted by Simply Measured, has shown that photo sharing software and social media platform Instagram has a “very impressive” adoption rate, with approximately 40% of the world’s top brands using the app. Although other social networks such as Facebook have higher adoption rates, Instagram is predicted to hit 100 million users over the coming months – a feat that it too Facebook four years to achieve. “The fact that this many top brands are engaging customers successfully shows how social savvy top brands are becoming,” Simply Measured commented.